Tag: Beatport

Roger Sanchez is an American icon. There, we said it. With a career spanning two decades, Roger was at forefront of the house music revolution in the 80s and early 90s. He has outlasted many though the genre’s transformations into the multiple offshoots we know today. Through it all, his grace, passion, skill, professionalism, and of course his stellar productions, have spanned generations and brought the sound of the New York underground to dance floors around the globe. Where others have come and gone, the S-Man (an alter ego dating back to 1992) has given us both underground rhythms and chart-busting anthems.

His new single, S-Man Feat. GTO – 2 Close brings that unique mix of early 90s rhythm programming, keyboards, bass lines and warm kicks to today’s house music mix. There’s been a return to some of the classic sounds of house as of late, but given Roger’s history of developing the sounds today’s producers are copying, it’s not a stretch at all for him to put out another timeless record that will be on the USB 3.0 sticks to house music DJs around the world. He’s pursuing a deeper, darker tone and texture as S-Man, a moniker he’s bringing back that differentiates this release from his more traditional, more polished songs.

Roger is also embarking on a U.S. tour with a stop in Montreal, after a summer spent assaulting the decks in Ibiza. He’ll be mostly on the East Coast through December with a date in L.A., so catch him where you can.

The world’s largest pure electronic dance music retailer, Beatport, today announced http://pro.beatport.com. The new website is mobile responsive. Yes, that’s optimized for mobile devices. Beatport says the color scheme is better for Pro DJs in low light environments for those jocks in the booth purchasing tracks on the fly.

The above view is a screenshot of the home page on a 13″ MacBook Pro. I noticed right away the switch to the audio player at the bottom of the screen, which begets the question – where is your playlist?

Playlist Tool

Well, Beatport took some liberty here with the “hamburger” menu icon at the bottom right, which usually signifies access to a setting area for account management, user profile management and that sort of thing. Then again, dance music never really stuck with convention, did it? It will probably annoy a bunch of information architects, but as long as you figure out what it it’s for, you’ll be alright. Just click on what UI developers call the “hamburger” icon at the bottom left and you’ll get your tracks listed as shown here.

Beatport also reveals a completely new logo.

Beatport 2014 Logo Update

Clark Warner, BEATPORT’s Executive Creative Director says this about the new look:

“The new Beatport logo is all about connections: the universal connection with music; the sacred connection between DJs and fans; and our shared connection with one another as members of this vibrant community and culture. Headphones represent the beginning of these connections, not the end. They’re the point where the DJ first interacts with the music, and with that spark, sets the soundtrack to our musical experience.”

We took some screenshots from the iPhone to show you what the mobile responsive view looks like (as if you haven’t seen it already). But before you get started below, one thing we are curious about is this Beatport Pro direction. Is that for DJs who want to buy music or does that include fans to? According to the press release we got tonight about the beta launch of Beatport Pro, Lloyd Starr, President ofBeatport Pro and COO of BEATPORT was quoted as saying:

“Beatport has grown into the leading destination for fans of electronic music culture of all stripes over the last 10 years, and Beatport Pro represents our commitment to the DJs that are the lifeblood of this community. It’s a commitment that Beatport was founded on, and one that remains a decade later. I would like to personally invite anyone with constructive feedback, suggestions, and ideas to share them so we can continue to make Beatport Pro the best DJ resource available.”

Hmmm…does that mean that pro.beatport.com will be for DJs and Beatport will then enter the consumer market with a subscription service for rabid Avicii and casual Kaskade fans alike? Inquiring minds think we know.

While you’re thinking about that, have some fun with the screenshots below. Don’t forget, in the new mobile responsive, you have to use the “hamburger” icon menu to flip to the wav to skip through a track. An extra click. Not sure if that was necessary, but maybe it will improve over time. It’s hard to get these web based experiences to react like an experience in a mobile app. Too bad they couldn’t replicate what SoundCloud has done with their wav form scroll in their new mobile app experience.

One gaping hole we almost missed, but then did notice, is the checkout process. It still runs through Beatport.com. I almost missed it, because I wasn’t going to purchase a download just to write this post. But, I said, eh…what the heck. I might as well try it.

I learned you can’t purchase directly through Beatport Pro and that is problematic, because it doesn’t keep with the user workflow they intended with the complete redesign. I wanted to see how the iPhone would handle a download – can you store a download to your phone or do you have to download it at Beatport and then transfer it in via iTunes? It doesn’t look like it’s an end-to-end seamless experience, because on the iPhone, the payment screen is not responsive. Browse through the screens below for a look or try it on your phone yourself.

We’re listening to this Rob Roar’s 3AM tech-house remix of Rockerfella feat. Stella Attar (Phonetic Recordings, Catalog #:PH73R). Not a huge track, but something cool to run in your DJ sets as you head into peak our or come out of an energetic set.

The world’s hottest dance label, Ultra Records/Sony Music releases Mystique – “Brand New” on 8/22. The song is available for download on Beatport.com. This is a House track that will be sure to shake up the end of the summer parties in Ibiza. The video’s not yet available, but there’s a preview from Mystique’s YouTube channel, which we’ve got for your below.

For you twenty-somethings, the vocal sample, “You make me feel brand new,” was most likely resung by a session vocalist and that voice was put through and effects processor. The original idea comes from a classic slow jam by The Stylistics, a Philly soul group from the late 60s and early 70s.

This 60-minute mix is inspired by my Deep Moments In My Melodic Soul playlist on8tracks.com, here: http://8tracks.com/djtonyz/deep-momen…. The next edition in the Netmix Global House Sessions Podcast series, this is Episode 13 mixed by DJ Tony Z using Ableton Live 8 and tracks selected from Beatport.com. Always check out Netmix.com!

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